Multidisciplinary Artist | Liminal Fiction | Alternate Reality Games
One of the earliest internet-era conspiracy theories, “Ong’s Hat” (look it up) also began as an online art project by Joseph Matheny. It took on an eerie life of its … Continue reading Why Conspiracy Theories Have Become the Most Influential Art Form of Our Time
Link: http://broadcast.literationclub.com/2019/05/30/the-mystery-of-ongs-hat/ Ong’s Hat used to be the suburbs within the Pine Barrens of Nj. However, within the 1990’s, rumours started to swirl online of secret experiments which had occurred … Continue reading The Mystery of Ong’s Hat
The first thing one learns upon becoming a subject of press interest is that there’s actually very little one can generally do in the face of inaccurate or even malicious … Continue reading Corrections to Brian Dunning’s Skeptoid Podcast About Ong’s Hat
LINK TO Gizmodo piece on Ong’s Hat, from 2/21/19 Chosen one of The Best Long Reads Of The Month, picked by Digg’s editors Chosen as a “WEEKEND READING PLEASURE” editor’s … Continue reading Gizmodo-Ong’s Hat: The Early Internet Conspiracy Game That Got Too Real
What lies at the heart of Ong’s Hat? Listen to this episode of Decoder Ring: LINK TO DECODER RING PAGE Decoder Ring is a podcast about cracking cultural mysteries. Every … Continue reading Slate-Decoder Ring: The Incunabula Papers
Ong’s Hat, also known as The Incunabula, is the original ARG and laid the ground for all future experiments in transmedia storytelling. Join me as we take a brief look … Continue reading Ong’s Hat: The Original ARG – Sex, Drugs & Quantum Physics
Topics include: Crimbus gifts, planning our funerals, Scary German Lady, Philly Legends: The Bubble Fairy, Josh is home alone, Alien Alloys, BFS Road Trip, Corrections and Josh’s Chaos Dimension: Ong’s Hat, … Continue reading Best Friend Simulator Episode 16: Those Mummy Flippin’ Flintknappers/ Ong’s Hat
If you enjoy STEAL THIS SHOW, think about becoming a patron. Our Patreon campaign keeps us free and independent – and keeps shows coming your way! This episode is part two … Continue reading Special Episode: ‘Fake Lore, Dark Memes’, with Joseph Matheny
The Grey Lodge was an underground private torrent tracker used by millions of people per month in their quest to uncover the esoteric, strange and the downright weird. In this … Continue reading The Digital Underground: with The Grey Lodge’s Joseph Matheny
Matheny himself was there at the beginning of the ARG, when the increasing prominence of online media got him thinking about new forms of storytelling. “I’ve been a tech person since the Eighties,” he reminisces. “I was an IT expert and moved up into software, and I used to play the Steve Jackson games a lot. I also played the Flying Buffalo play-by-mail games, which were kind of like a LARP but done through mail, phone and faxes. You would send your mailing address and your phone number and you would start getting stuff in the mail.
The following is an excerpt from an interview conducted by David Jay Brown and Rebecca Novack, with Joseph Matheny and ennercore of MediaKaos. The full interview will be appearing in … Continue reading From the Archives: Formative Interviews- Joseph Matheny
Part of the “original 4” pieces of the Ong’s Hat storyline. It appeared in print as Advances in Skin Science, later to be released on the Internet as ADVANCES IN … Continue reading Original Boing-Boing Article: Advances in Skin Science
Joseph Matheny 